A palletless storing system of goods is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,497, where stacked crates are retrieved from the warehouse rack and stacked on another rack. A collecting apparatus moves on rails in the warehouse. This apparatus is adjustable to retrieve and stack crates on different rack levels. There can be many stacks of crates side by side on a rack. The stack is retrieved from the rack by the lift of the stacking apparatus catching the bottom-edge of the lower crate in the stack, so that the whole stack can be lifted and removed by the apparatus. The crates are arranged on the rack so that the lift can be placed under their bottom edge. The crates on the rack are on a smaller base than their bottom part.
With the apparatus it is possible to handle only a certain quantity of crates from a stack of crates. No bearing pallets are needed. Steering of the apparatus takes place from the control centre in the lifting carrier. In the system, the content of the crates is not identified.
Shelf lifts are capable of moving shelves between a parking positions and an operating station. A shelf may be positioned to be supported in the parking position when the shelf is not being transported by a shelf lift. Each shelf can store goods that are needed in a specific operating station at a specific time. However, some of the goods on the shelves may be only seldom needed, so that carrying such goods on the shelves reduces the efficiency of the shelf lift. On the other hand, restocking seldom needed goods to the shelves takes place less often than the goods are needed and typically involves manual work. Floor space required by manual restocking may be relatively large, particularly in large warehouses, having many rows of shelves. Floor space should be reserved for people and equipment, such as trolleys or fork lift trucks.